My mother was born in Miami Station, Missouri, the youngest of 11 children and is of German descent. When she was born her mother was ill and died a few years later of cancer. Her father also died while she was young. Her siblings raised my mother. For never having had a stable childhood or a mom for very long, she sure has been an exceptional mother.

I was born to very loving, wonderful parents, Clarence Arthur Kadel and Opal Virginia Bollin Kadel. I have two older brothers, Roy E. Kadel who lives in Mobile, Alabama, and is a chirpractor and a lawyer — a very successful business man married to a wonderful wife with two children. My other brother, Jay A. Kadel, is also a wonderful brother. He and his wife Penni live in Soda Springs, Idaho and love the mountains and the great outdoors.

I was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa, because my grandpa's cousin was the doctor. I lived some years in Des Moines, and we had a farm at Earlham in between, too. In 1968, my folks found the farm we still live on north of Osceola on Highway 69. My father was a cement finisher and farmer, but had some serious health issues — high blood pressure and an ulcer, which required hospital care. My brothers, who were 13 and 14, did the farm work while our dad was in the hospital. My mom was working in Des Moines in a secretarial bookkeeping/ accounting position. The outcome was, we kept the farm but moved back to Des Moines. For the next six years I lived in Des Moines. The last five years we were in West Des Moines on Ashworth Road. I had attended 1st grade and part of 2nd grade in Clarke Community School, then in Des Moines until we moved back to the farm in 1974, when I was in 7th grade.

Probably because I teach reading, what I remember most about school is learning to read, which for me was no big deal. In first grade, I learned to read Dick and Jane books and I just kept reading. But not everybody learns that way. I learned a great deal from my husband who struggled with literacy and is extremely talented and intelligent, but whose forte is not academics.

During my youth I yearned to speak and think in another language, to dream in another language, but the only foreign language offered in Clarke was Spanish, so I took all the Spanish I could. I took it instead of study hall, and I was so interested in foreign people that I participated in AFS (American Field Service, a foreign exchange program). I became an exchange student to Costa Rica the summer of 1979, after my junior year. It was wonderful! I went through the same process I ask my students to go through, and because of having already studied Spanish, in just a few weeks I became fluent. Fluent doesn't mean you know all the words, or understand everything, but you can communicate fluently. Sometimes you have to go around in a circle because you don't have exactly the right word so you explain what you want to communicate using other words. That was so much fun! Learning another language is like a game to me.

The family I was with was nice, kind and giving. They had a young son and a very young daughter. A teenage girl lived with them and helped them clean. I took care of my own needs, washing my clothes by hand every day as was the practice. They were of the middle class. Their house had stucco walls typical of a Central or South American country, but when I went to bed at night, I could hear what I thought were rats, but were probably just mice, scratching in the walls. One night the bed was shaking and I thought the rats had gotten in the house and were under my bed. It actually was an earthquake, and when I got up I found the family had gathered and were praying. We were not in an area greatly affected but my mother in Iowa heard about it on the news. She called me and was relieved we were all fine.

Not everyone was as financially blessed as the family with whom I lived. I saw people who had nothing, absolutely nothing. I remember visiting a family in which there were 14 people living in a little corrugated metal shack with Wheaties and corn flakes boxes to line the walls. The experience made a deep impression on me, as I realized I live in a very wealthy country. I personally came from a pretty humble background. I didn't have a lot of clothes or things but by comparison, I surely did. And our roads! We have such wonderful roads, we don't think anything about it, but not all those countries do. Their transportation is certainly not as accommodating or comfortable — animal/bus.

I attended school in Costa Rica. There were three sessions in which a student could attend either the morning, afternoon or night session. These options exist because many children in Latin American countries have to work. It was a beautiful country and I made many friends, but I came back to Iowa having a greater appreciation for the United States and the wonderful opportunities we have here. Of course in Costa Rica no one could pronounce my name, Stacia. They gave it a different pronunciation. In Latin American countries the father's last name is first, and the mother's maiden name is at the end. They used my middle name Diane (Diana) because it was easier to pronounce than Stacia and then my mother's maiden name, Bollin came at the end. So I really didn't know who I was...

I returned to the U.S. and finished my Senior year at Clarke. During my Senior year I often marveled at the youth's complaints about their parents or their circumstances when in reality I knew their lives were so blessed.

I attended Cottey College in Nevada, Missouri following my high school graduation in 1980. I received an Associate of Arts degree in 1982, with the intention of continuing my education and becoming an elementary school teacher. I had studied all of the basics required for an A.A., but continued with Spanish and had also started studying German. I transferred to Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, a Latter Day Saint university, where my major was Elementary Education with an emphasis in Spanish and Science.

When I was 8 years old and lived in West Des Moines on Ashworth Road, the neighborhood children and I were invited by a neighbor to go with them to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I loved to go to church. There are many sacred truths that have guided my life and kept me from a lot of suffering. I was baptized when I was nine years old. When I moved to Osceola, I continued to attend. At that time it was a little church on Jackson Street, which is a residence now, and we are the church east of town on Highway 34.

Attending church was fine with my folks. They weren't in the church but they were supportive and very nice about my attending. I had transportation because they liked to come to town and have breakfast together on Sunday mornings. My dad died when I was 15, but my mom continued to be supportive of my attendance and participation at church.

When I attended Brigham Young University, some friends had gotten me a contract to live in an apartment the Osmonds owned. It was a really affluent part of town and I was out of my realm coming from humble circumstances in Osceola. I continued in college with what I had always done — I worked. I cleaned houses and raised pigs during high school, paid for my trip to become a foreign exchange student, and worked at Robinsons when I was 14. My first years in college I worked in the cafeteria. At BYU, I worked on the grounds, pulling weeds, raking leaves and shoveling snow. I also worked in the cafeteria and later was a secretary for the BYU book­store — my first "white collar" job.

I had always had a burning desire to serve a mission for the church. I was at BYU for a year and had money to go to school but not money to go on a mission. Latter Day Saint missionaries are self funded or helped by their family. However, I felt such a strong impression that I should serve a mission.

I finished my term at BYU the end of June and came home to Iowa to work and save money, so I could go on a mission. I worked at several different jobs and finally in September, I did go on a mission, to Asuncion, Paraguay. In preparation, I went to a mission training center (MTC). Normally it would be for two months but my MTC companion and I had both studied Spanish for seven years and were fluent, so we were able to leave the next month. I was in Paraguay a year and a half. They speak Spanish and Guarani, an Indian dialect. I taught the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I taught reading to adults. I also taught organ lessons. Once again I was amidst sweet and loving people who were just like you and me, but not born into the affluent United States of America.

I saw young people missing front permanent teeth, homes without doors or windows, just blankets up, dirt floors and farm animals everywhere. The animals aren't fenced in, the trees are. My mission was a marvelous experience that influences me yet today. I hope my sons will choose to serve missions.

I returned home to Iowa where I worked at several jobs to make money to get back into BYU. I was also blessed with scholarship opportunities. After being out for two years, the graduation requirements had changed. Computers were in and I had to take computers classes and meet other requirements. Because I supported myself and always worked, I couldn't easily over­load on classes. I can remember a few calls where I cried to Mom when I learned how much longer it would be before my graduation. But it all worked out. I did my student teaching up in the mountains at Heber Valley, Utah. I didn't want to do it around the university. I wanted to go where the children were fresh and not accustomed to student teachers. I never had a car through college so I would catch a ride in the morning and walk about four miles back down the mountain in the evening, where I lived with a dear family.

I came back to Iowa looking for a teaching job following my graduation from BYU in 1987. I worked in the Clarke Clinic. I cleaned homes and businesses, as usual. I also applied for teaching jobs in Iowa. However, Iowa Public schools were not interested in new graduates at that time, so that fall I started teaching in a preschool at Waukee. I commuted from my mom's home to Waukee, Iowa. Then I got a night job at the Methodist Hospital. I was in admitting and usually it was pregnant women who came in at night.

Sometime during the year, I was reading a newspaper and realized I had missed a Job Fair held in Des Moines. I called one of the Arizona schools advertised in the paper. I can't remember all the details and connections, but they promised if I came and interviewed, I would have a job. It helped that I was bi-lingual. As promised, I did get a job for the fall of 1988, in the Somerton school district in Somerton, Arizona, 15 miles from the Mexican Border teaching Kindergarten. My first three years, all of my students were from Mexico. My fourth year I also had some Cocapah Native American children. There were few native English speaking teachers in the school district. They were really pleased to get someone from Iowa because Iowa has such a good reputation for our schools. At that time, the kids in Arizona took the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. I worked with exceptionally wonderful people and was very close to my fellow teachers.

I graduated with my Masters in Multi-cultural Bi-lingual Education from Northern Arizona University the spring of 1992, after four years of teaching Kindergarten. That summer I came home to visit my mom as I often did during those four years in Arizona, but that summer I had illusions of getting a job at Younkers in Des Moines, so I could go back to Arizona with a fabulous wardrobe, but I never did apply at Younkers. Instead I got a job at the nursing home doing laundry. Mom and I made use of my car and took several trips to see family and attend family reunions.

In the course of time that summer, Tony Watkins kept coming over and visiting us. By the end of the summer, on August 7, 1992, we were married, so I became second mom (we don't use the the step-mom) to four wonderful daughters. Angela was 10, Janice 7, Patty 6, and Stacia was 4. They are my children and I love  them! The laundry detail at the nursing home was perfect preparation...laundry never ends.

Tony has owned his own shop, Watkins Automotive, north of Osceola on highway 69. He now works for Hulchers out of Bondurant, a company that does contract work for the railroad. He goes all over the United States, and into Canada and Mexico. He is in Mexico now. He drove a dump truck from Hamburg, Iowa to the Mexican border. They recently had a devastating hunicane from one coast to the other, and they are cleaning up 12 derailments in the mountains a couple of hours out of Monterey, Mexico. The company he works for will be there quite awhile helping with the train system after the hurricane's destruction.

In 1992, when I married Tony, I had a teaching contract but as a wedding gift, they let me out of my contract in Arizona. They were really happy for me. We went back to get my things, and then I started substituting here in Iowa, but I just substituted for two months when I saw an ad in the Des Moines paper for a Spanish speaking liaison for Des Moines Public Schools. As it turned out, they were excited to see I was a certified ELL teacher with a Masters and hired me as an ELL teacher the end of October of 1992. I commuted from Osceola to Adams Elementary on the east side of Des Moines. It was a wonderful job, although I had no Hispanic children at all. I taught Laotian and Hmong students and really enjoyed those sweet children and their families. The following year I taught a combination classroom of 3rd and 4th grade children. In addition to having two grades combined, I also was blessed with ELL students and students who were severely handicapped. In the morning I taught ELL at Roosevelt High School and in the afternoon I became a third/fourth grade "Special Education inclusion"/ELL teacher. It was great! I really did have an excellent year — never a dull moment!

The next year I was very blessed to get a job on the west side of Des Moines at Windsor Elementary teaching ELL K- 5th, so I didn't have to drive as far. I taught and loved the sweetest, nicest Vietnamese and Laotian children. Their families are exceptional and are still my friends.

This spring I received an invitation from my former student, Hanh Le, to attend her college graduation from Iowa State University. The Vietnamese are such giving people. I still enjoy receiving Christmas cards and even Christmas gifts from my wonderful Buddhist friends. In the succeeding years, I enjoyed students coming from war-torn Bosnia and then Somalia. Oh, my! What trauma those children had experienced!! Once again, we live in the greatest country on earth!

People often ask me if I speak all of those languages. No, I speak English really well. That's all I need to do in order to teach English. The methodology to teach ELL is very similar to that of early childhood. We use our bodies and actions, pictures, realia (real objects) and build their vocabulary and language in a natural way just as all of us learned our first language. I am grateful to be a second language learner for I recognize that experience has been pivotal in my knowing how to help others learn another language. The research that guides and drives my teaching shows that the best way to learn a language is to read, read, read. I use non-fiction books with real photos and we read and write every day. I have always loved teaching. It is really fun. I like kids. I can remember a little Vietnamese boy on his first day. He was so naughty and non-complaint. The first word he learned that day was "naughty". I had to physically pick him up and set him down, and he could tell by my actions and expression the way he was acting was not acceptable, but he became my friend. My students are typically very humble, sweet children, anxious to please. You just slowly build up those qualities.

Eleven years ago I went to visit my in-laws and saw an Osceola paper with a heading in great big letters. "Clarke School Needs ELL Teacher!" I thought, "That's me." Of course the paper was two weeks old but I quickly got my application in and got the job. I love it. Teaching children is really a passion for me. At the Elementary last year (2009-2010) there were about 125 ELL children kindergarten through 6th. I knew and loved them all. Their families are typically so supportive of education and want what is best for their child. I have enjoyed my association and teaching opportunities with native English speakers, too. I know that Clarke Community Schools have great students and really hard working and dedicated teachers and administrators. It is a privilege to work there.

This coming year, 2010-2011, Maria Perez will be the ELL teacher and I will be in a regular classroom. Maria has graduated from William Penn University, with honors, of course. She is so capable, so wonderful, and so instrumental in being a liaison in our community. She is the one who has done all the translations and helped me so much these last ten years she's been at Clarke. It would take me hours to translate something, and it would still need editing, whereas, she is a machine. She has been such a dear — giving endless hours of service to our school and community. Our brainstorming sessions always ended up with a solution. What a great blessing she has been.

Mrs. Vicenta Arellano has worked closely with us these last three years and is also an extremely dedicated, capable and talented native language tutor. Vicenta always goes the extra ten miles in service. They both feel like sisters to me and have blessed my life immensely!

At this time our oldest daughter, Angela, 28, lives in Chicago, with two beautiful sons — my grandsons, they're like dolls — A.J. and Danny. Anthony Jose is named after both grandpas. Daniel Byron is named after a great grandpa. Angela has a wonderful husband, Joe Ulloa. She is working on a degree in engineering. She and her husband have been in the military for awhile and have served in Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. Angela has the rank of sergeant, and is actually finishing her military career now. Janice lives in the state of Washington and is enjoying all of the amenities of the west coast. Patty is at Iowa State finishing her degree with her awesome Marine husband, Gabriel Lowry, who has served two tours of duty in Iraq. Stacia Lynn's husband is the fabulous Alex Taylor. They both joined the Air Guard so Stacia has been in training this year until about November 3' . She is in Texas now studying Aeronautics. I have wonderful daughters and wonderful sons-in-law.
We also have two sons — Wyatt, 14, who will be in 8th grade, Ryan, 8, will be in 3rd grade. We have a super family. I am blessed with the best in-laws anyone could ever have! Ron and Harriet continue to be very supportive of me and of our family, just as my mother is. I really do like children. I wanted 12 and my mom reminds me that I have six and by the time they have spouses, I will have 12, so it all works out. The grandchildren are the icing on the cake!

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